Royce & Associates Hires Firms
To Explore Strategic Options

By

Aaron Lucchetti Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Dec. 5, 2000 12:01 a.m. ET

Royce & Associates, a $3.5 billion-in-assets money-management firm run by bargain-hunting value investor Charles M. Royce, has been put on the block, the latest in a string of mutual fund firms looking for a larger partner.

The New York-based firm led by Mr. Royce, 61 years old, has hired Citigroup Inc.'s Salomon Smith Barney unit and UBS AG's PaineWebber Inc. to explore strategic options for the firm, including a possible sale. Jack Fockler, a managing director at Royce, said: "Not unlike a lot of firms, we're...